Breast Cancer Treatment Options

Treatment for breast cancer usually begins within a few weeks after the diagnosis. You can use time to discuss your treatment options with your physician and to develop a treatment plan that is tailored to your needs. In addition, use this time to prepare yourself and your loved ones. There are several community and national resources to help you do this. Breast cancer may be treated with local or systemic therapy. Some patients have both kinds of treatment. Local therapy, which includes surgery and radiation therapy, is used to remove or destroy breast cancer in a specific area.

Systemic treatments, which include chemotherapy and hormonal therapy, are used to destroy or control cancer throughout the body. Some patients have systemic therapy to shrink the tumor before local therapy. Others have systemic therapy to prevent the cancer from coming back or to treat cancer that has spread.

Click the treatment option links in the left margin to learn more.